This is the first Article in a series of studies on the Birth of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. An Event called the “Incarnation.” When God became “flesh!”

Today we visit Luke 1:35. We will be here again I suspect, before Christmas has come and gone! “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also THAT HOLY THING which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”

Three words, “that holy Thing,” have arrested my attention.

But only one word in Greek, “hagios.”

And why Luke was led to put the word in the neuter gender, I do not know.

The adjective means “different!”

“Other” than has ever been!

“Set apart!”

Even “consecrated.”

HOLY in that sense!

A new thing was happening that day long ago. And Gabriel the angel was announcing it to Mary the virgin.

God the Son was to be born of a human being, a lady, a Jewish girl.

And oh, what a HOLY THING He was.

He still is!

He always will be!

By the way, “that Holy Thing” died on the Cross.

And he too, the Darling Son of God, was raised from the dead.

And is now my Saviour, through His Own shed Blood.

Think of Him today, often.

THAT HOLY THING!

None like Him.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

 

We now have noticed over two dozen Verses (all from the Old Testament) about the Holy Spirit. These studies occupied most of the month of November, 2015. And though I personally selected the various Passages, they seemed to be extremely profitable to our readers’ understanding of the Spirit of God. Mine as well!

Today, as we conclude the series, Zechariah 12:10 comes to the forefront. “And I (the Lord) will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of Grace and of Supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

Wow!

The Spirit “poured out” upon Israel! “Shaphak” is the verb, meaning “to gush out!” This Event is yet future in its fullest manifestation, at the Second Coming of Jesus to earth.

And what does the Holy Spirit “do,” once He has saturated these people?

He fulfills His role as the Member of the Godhead Who imparts Grace and Supplication upon a person, here upon a people. “Grace” is the Characteristic of God (His good Favour) by which mankind is “saved!” God’s very “gift” to us. And “Supplication” is another way of saying “intreaty,” simply “prayer.” Maybe even begging!

The Holy Spirit here places Israel “under conviction!” Watch these people begin to “mourn!” The word means “to wail, to lament.” Crying over sin!

What sin?

Killing Jesus!

“Piercing” the Son of God!

All we sinners had a part, you know.

The Holy Spirit “creates” within a soul that “hunger,” that “thirst” for the saving Grace of God! The yearning to be “born-again!”

He “points” men to Jesus!

They here “look” upon Him … with “nabat” meaning “to pay attention, to consider, to regard,” even “to study!”

Then comes deep sorrow!

Then (Zechariah 13:1) Israel is “saved.” Read it. “In that day there shall be a Fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.”

Washed in the Fountain, we say “Washed in the Blood!”

Their sin and uncleanness … all gone!

And How did this salvation miracle occur?

It began with the Presence, the Outpouring of God the Holy Spirit!

Isn’t that how YOU were saved?

Amen.

The Holy Spirit “pointed” (to Jesus).

Israel “repented” (sorrowfully).

The people “asked” (for salvation).

And God “cleansed” (via that fountain)!

That’s Heaven’s great Plan of Salvation.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

The thought is … as they say … “elementary.” Yet it is also a profound truth. Today’s Text is found in Zechariah 7:12, just a clause from that great Verse.

“Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and THE WORDS WHICH THE LORD OF HOSTS HATH SENT IN HIS SPIRIT by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.”

Did you see my emphasis? The Lord has sent His Words (His Word, the Scriptures) to us … via His Holy Spirit!

This is now called the Bible doctrine of “Inspiration.”

The Hebrew verb “hath sent” is “shalach,” meaning “to sow” 3 times in the Bible! Jesus’ Parable immediately comes to mind! “A Sower went forth to sow ….”

The noun for God’s “words” here is “dabar,” meaning “speech, sayings, commandments,” usually verbal communication loaded with meaning, forethought, God’s very “logic!” (To me “dabar” in the Old Testament is much like “logos” in the New Testament.)

The preposition “be” (Hebrew, pronounced “bey”) is here translated “in.” God sent His Word … “in” … the Person of His Spirit. It can also mean “through” His Spirit.

Wow!

Paul echoes the same fact in Second Timothy 3:16. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” The word list “given by inspiration of God” translates just one Greek verbal, “theopneustos.” Meaning “God Breathed!”

Zechariah and Paul agree, both being directed by the Holy Spirit, of Whom we are speaking. Concerning Whom I am writing.

So when we pick up our Bibles, we must realize afresh the Source of its Truth! God … God the Holy Spirit! And then (it would help) realaize that He is also (the Author of the Word) living within our hearts as Believers in Jesus! No wonder we “see” such Wisdom and Beauty and Practicality as we study the Bible! (The Very Author indwells us, whispers His intent concerning any given Passage … directly into our ears!)

Yet the people of Zechariah’s day still did not respond to the Word of God! “Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the Lord of hosts.”

They did not listen!

Will you?

Will we?

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

This “Holy Spirit” Verse is well-known.

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.” Found in Zechariah 4:6 … multitudes quote it daily.

I understand the Sentence to be teaching us that God’s Vehicle for accomplishing things on earth … IS HIS SPIRIT, HIS HOLY SPIRIT.

I’m not saying the Holy Spirit cannot use “might.” He can. The noun “chaiyl” is translated “army/armies” 56 times in the Bible! And “hosts” another 29 times.

And He is too able to utilize “power” in His work. “Koach” means “to be firm,” unbending. It is usually said to mean “strength, force, ability,” such words practically being synonyms. Sheer brute might!

But the Holy Spirit is not dependent on any of those catalysts.

He is the “Doer” of the Godhead!

Through His “Spirit” God works!

For example, Jesus Death. “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who THROUGH THE ETERNAL SPIRIT offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Hebrews 9:14

And Job 26:13 tells us that God: “BY HIS SPIRIT he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.” The “serpent” is one of the constellations of the heavens! God created through the Agency of His Spirit!

Our dead bodies some day, when Jesus comes again, will be raised from their graves and transformed into glorified bodies! Here’s how: “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies BY HIS SPIRIT that dwelleth in you.” Romans 8:11, Wow!

Furthermore, we are “taught” by the Spirit of God! “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us BY HIS SPIRIT: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.” 1st Corinthians 2:9-10

I hope these three examples will help illustrate my point today.

God has ordained His SPIRIT as the great Worker in executing the Will of the Trinity!

We don’t need an army.

We don’t need exercise equipment or brawny bodyguards.

We NEED God the Holy Spirit!

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”

I bow in reverence to the Truth of this verse.

“Oh, Holy Spirit, how we need Thee!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

WE PRAY A BLESSED THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

Listen to an Old Testament Prophet, a “Minor” Prophet he is labeled today: “But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord.” Micah 3:8

The POWER of the Holy Spirit!

The Hebrew verb “male” not only means “to be full, to be satisfied,” but also “to be consecrated, replenished, satisfied,” and even twice “to be overflowed!”

Oh, to be THAT controlled and indwelt by the Holy Spirit!

The noun “power” (spelled “koach”) means “to be firm, strong.” At least its root word does. Also “might, force, ability, wealth.”

“By” is a particle (preposition) meaning “together with.”

So I can declare with Bible authority … the Holy Spirit of God is the Divine Agent of Power!

After His 40 days of Temptation, defeating the devil at every turn … Luke 4:14 tells us of Jesus: “And Jesus returned in THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT  into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.”

The Lord Himself … empowered by the Holy Spirit!

Today, Thanksgiving Day, let’s all ask our Heaven Father to so endue us. With the fullness of His Spirit, the Spirit Who empowers us to live acceptably to our Redeemer!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I recall years ago hearing a Preacher tell us that he prayed dozens of times a day, in fact hundreds of times some days … “God give me the Power of Thy Spirit! Oh, Lord give me Power!”

Wow!